Shaman PvP Guides for WotLK Classic

Being a Shaman in Wrath Classic PvP can be a completely different experience, based on your talents, although all specs will bring Bloodlust, Purge, Wind Shear and Hex, which are some of the best PvP utility spells in the game.

1. Elemental Shamans deal massive burst damage with Lava Burst and Chain Lightning, have all standard Shaman utility, and can displace the enemy team with Thunderstorm, making them the best Shaman specialization for PvP, overall;
2. Enhancement Shamans are also all about dealing massive burst damage, but require melee range for Windfury Weapon and are relatively easy to kite due to having limited movement options after Feral Spirit expires;
3. Restoration Shamans bring strong single-target healing if allowed to cast, but even without casting they can rely on Earth Shield, Riptide, and Nature's Swiftness to cover dangerous situations.

Overall, Elemental is one of the most meta specs in Wrath Arena, but Enhancement and Restoration also have their place, and have some compositions tailored to their unique skills, such as Beastcleave for Enhancement.

Shamans have multiple viable talent builds in PvP, which come down to your favored specialization.

Elemental Shaman is the most improved PvP specialization in Wrath with the introduction of Lava Burst, Hex, Wind Shear, and Thunderstorm, as well as new talents Astral Shift and Storm, Earth and Fire and the rework of Elemental Warding, Eye of the Storm, and Elemental Mastery.

Having all of these new burst, control and utility tools on top of good old Grounding Totem, Purge, and Bloodlust allows Shamans to survive, control and burst down enemies to win matches, with tools for every situation and multiple high tier compositions.

Our guide below will take you through what you need to know in order to play as Elemental in Wrath Classic PvP.

As Enhancement you have access to many of the general Shaman tools listed above, but trade the ranged burst provided by Lava Burst and Elemental cooldowns for a melee playstyle which generates Maelstrom Weapon stacks which can be used for extra DPS, healing, or crowd control with Hex, as required.

Even with talents such as Earthen Power and Frozen Power, Enhancement is often vulnerable to being kited and crowd controlled, and can have trouble landing its attacks outside of its major cooldown, Feral Spirit. Its burst damage and ability to chase targets is extremely strong with Feral Spirit up and Bloodlust, however, making Enhancement strong in compositions looking to rush down their targets in quick games.

Our guide below will take you through what you need to know in order to play as Enhancement in Wrath Classic PvP.

While Restoration can be a strong healer on paper, its main problems are a lack of mobility and a reliance on hard-casts of Lesser Healing Wave and Healing Wave for high healing output, which opens their healing to interrupts or crowd control.

Even with this healing weakness, Restoration is on a stronger spot than it has ever been, as Earth Shield in Wrath only has individual stacks removed with enemy dispels, rather than the full shield. The addition of Riptide and Improved Earth Shield adds more instant cast healing, and the new Wind Shear is the only ranged interrupt in game that has a short cooldown, combining with Grounding Totem and Purge to make Shamans a nightmare for enemy casters.

Our guide below will take you through what you need to know in order to play as Restoration in Wrath Classic PvP.

Macros and Addons can greatly benefit your gameplay, especially in PvP where split-second decisions translate to wins. Macros lessen the time it takes for you to perform an action by combining two or more commands into a single button. Addons increase the amount of information you are receiving, allowing you to make better decisions on the fly.

We list below our guides for Shaman-specific Addons and Macros. While many of these are targeted toward PvE, they can also be quite useful for PvP.

Engineering is the main recommended professions due to the high amount of burst damage or healing on demand provided by Hyperspeed Accelerators, which has no equivalent in any other profession. Unfortunately other tinkers, such as Nitro Boosts, do not work in the Arena.

Tailoring is also a very strong burst option, especially for Elemental Shamans, as the Lightweave Embroidery proc is extremely powerful, and getting it at the right time will make killing the opposite team much easier. You can also use Elemental Mastery while the proc is up to take advantage of it.

Outside of these professions, Jewelcrafting is the most flexible profession as it allows you to get any stat (even Resilience) with its unique gems, while the other non-mentioned professions provides throughput boosts through Attack Power and Spell Power bonuses.

If you are interested in learning more about a variety of Arena compositions featuring a Shaman and its relative strength in PvP, please consult our guides on them below: